below: More words, this time “It’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood.” A quote from the TV show, ‘Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood’ along with a picture of Daniel Striped Tiger, a hand puppet from the same show.

below: Shafia Shaik working on her mural. The word GLOW has been cut off. The finished work was signed as EWOK project standing for Equity for Women of (K)olour.

below: A mural by muisca. The finished mural has green leaves and vines on both sides of the face.

I had heard about this event but I was away in mid-August which was the week that it occurred. I knew that it was on a lane off McCaul but I couldn’t remember where. McCaul isn’t that long so I started walking north at Queen. At Dundas, this is what I saw:

below: The edge of a mural by Emily May Rose beckons you to come and take a closer look.

I knew that I was in the right place when I saw the word (is it a word?) #womxnpaintto painted on the ground. So I followed the little yellow arrow and walked behind the buildings to a lane running east/west behind Dundas Street.

below: The mural is higher than the fence by quite a bit so as I walked beside the fence I was able to take this picture.

below: Three murals on a double garage. On the right is a woman with blue and orange rays by @dbetty13 (aka Désiré Betty). The other woman, the one with the wild turquoise hair was painted by toest (aka Sarah Gilmore). On the side of the building, partially obscured by the car is a mural painted by @nightarcade (aka Sarah Cannon).

below: An attempt to get a closer look at the side of the garage (with St. Patricks RC church in the background).

below: A fence with some murals – starting at the end with ” What You Do is Magic” by Shelby McLeod. Magic hands perhaps.

You might recognize the building below – it’s the Cherry Street interlocking tower. Along with the Scott Street and John Street towers, they housed the the electro-mechanical interlocking for the railway tracks. Interlocking is an apparatus that prevents conflicting movements through an arrangement of tracks, in other words, it keeps the trains separated so there are no collisions. It was back in 1931 that the track work for Union Station was completed and the Toronto Terminals Railway interlocking system became operational. The interlocking was installed by General Railway Signal Co. of Rochester NY and it was/is controlled from the three above mentioned towers. Apparently this 1931 interlocking system has operated reliably for 86 years and today it makes it possible for 235 passenger trains travel on these tracks every weekday.

The intersection of Cherry and Lakeshore isn’t pretty. The south end of Cherry passes under the railway tracks, 8 tracks wide, just before ending at Lakeshore Blvd which is under the Gardiner Expressway at that point.

below: This is the view if you’re walking east on Lakeshore. The ‘tunnel’ is Cherry Street as it goes under the railway tracks. The three glass condo towers are part of the Distillery District.

below: From above – the best way to help you visualize the intersection. The very bottom left corner is the north end of the Cherry Street bridge. Cherry Street and the Lakeshore come together under the Gardiner Expressway before they split again with Cherry continuing south to the Portlands and the Lakeshore curving back under the Gardiner.

Also, the intersection can be confusing if you’re a cyclist or a pedestrian, especially if you are coming south on Cherry Street. It’s one stretch where the undeveloped land under the Gardiner Expressway has been neglected in part because it is also a section of the city that is in limbo – is the Gardiner going to be taken down? or will it be moved? or will we debate it until it’s too late to do anything? As city redevelopment spreads east, there is more interest in this area and in the Portlands adjacent to it.

below: Looking west towards the city. The Martin Goodman Trail runs along the south side of Lakeshore before turning south at Cherry towards the Portlands. On the other side of Lakeshore is the Lower Don River Trail that parallels the Lakeshore before turning north at the Don River. Both trails are part of the PanAm Path.

The Panam Path was a legacy project from the 2015 Pan Am Games. The path is not completed yet but it starts at the south end of the Clairville Reservoir in the northwest part of the city. It follows the Humber River to Lake Ontario and then runs east to the Don River before heading inland a bit. Eventually it ends at the mouth of the Rouge River. The path goes under many bridges and there is street art in quite a few of these spots.

below: Some of the pillars and bents under the Gardiner just east of Cherry Street are the latest to be painted. Finally some colour!

The first painting was done as part of an Art Spin event at the end of August. Art Spin is a group that runs bicycle-led events/tours of art a few times a year. The project is also a part of the STEPS Initiative that promotes public art in the city.

below: XYZ 2017 VAL JAM LUVS DRPN ___ DELUXO OGV written on top of the snake before it had a tongue.

Those three words are what you see first as you walk down Lansdowne just north of Queen Street. This striking wall is the beginning of a group of murals and street art paintings that now adorn some of the walls and doors in an alley on the north side of Queen Street West. The paintings were done last weekend by a group of women artists. The walls had been primed previously by four high school students (and organized by the Toronto Police Services).

below: Shapes and colours by controlartdelete (aka Rachel Wilmshurst)

below: Emily May Roses’s women

below: Abstract houses and greenery by Jieun June Kim

below: Two kneeling women and a long necked bird with wings spread by Caitlin Taguibao

below: Monica on the Moon, “Over the mountains under the stars”

below: A colourful mural by _muisca_ (aka Daniela Rocha)

below: Unfortunately, this one has already been defaced, including the signature.

below: On a seriously cracked wall there is now a pink flower inside a green triangle surounded by a circle, by CVBinns (aka Courtney Binns)

below: Long flowing hair and with eyes closed, a mural by carolannapilado

below: A collaborative effort between auralast (aka Monique Aura) and chiefladybird (aka Ogimaa Kwe Bnes) – mother and child with the city beyond.

below: Also in the lane there are two urban ninja squadron paste ups by Tbonez

below: Looking east along the alley. The first road is Macdonell Avenue. Lansdowne is in the distance.

This project was supported by the StreetARToronto program, Toronto Police Services and the Drake Hotel. I talked briefly with a policewoman who was in the alley at the same time that I was – there is hope that the lane to the east of Lansdowne can be painted in the future.

Before then, a second all women street art jam and mural will be happening in Little India (1460 Gerrard Street East) at the end of August. The street art jam will be on the weekend of August 26th and 27th and will showcase the Woman in the Walls mural being painted at that time.